Top 5 from the Weekend

We are in the middle of three days of steady rain and chilly temperatures. We’re really getting our “April showers” in before welcoming May. I actually love a few days of dreary weather. I have a big pot of soup going for dinner tonight that’s full of veggies and seasoned with the ham bone from my Easter ham. I can’t wait to dig in later tonight!

The worst part about the constant rain is with the dogs! First, Sullie and Zoey hate being cooped up all day (I’m pretty sure they’d stay out in the rain if I’d let them) Second, there is so much extra drying off and cleaning to be done. Also, Arnie the pug is NOT a fan of going outside for any reason when it’s raining so you have to literally go out in the backyard and stand there in the rain with him to make sure he will go to the bathroom. Otherwise he just stands at the door and cries to come in and then goes in the house. ?

I got off on quite a tangent there. Let’s back up to the weekend. It was the final weekend (of eight) for our winter/spring 200-hour yoga teacher trainees so most of our weekend was spent in TT. I did manage to enjoy a few other outings and activities so here’s a recap of my top five from the weekend.

Visiting the Charlotte Regional Farmers Market

Sadly, our new home is quite a haul from the Charlotte Regional Farmers Market so I might have to switch to a closer market and save the regional for special trips. On Saturday morning I had a meeting at my rental house (I’m doing a bunch of maintenance to it between tenants) so I made plans to hit up the market after. It was so great to see my favorite farmer friends, especially Charlie from Windy Hill and his kiddos (who took this photo for me!). I stocked up on meat and eggs from Charlie. He’s my #1 pick for local meats.

It’s lettuce season and almost every farmer had tables full of beautiful lettuce. I came home with tuscan kale, arugula and a head of butter lettuce. I also bought some other veggies, herbs for my summer herb garden and a big bouquet of flowers.

I wrote a post last year about my six favorite farmers at the Charlotte Regional Market. You can find it here.

Zoey being Zoey

Zoey LOVES our new backyard. We spend countless hours out there throwing the ball to her. Lately, she’s taken to hiding herself under bushes when she gets tired and needs a break. You can’t see it here but she’s on top of her ball.

She’s also taken to jumping up in the bed to cuddle in the morning if she suspects you are awake. She’s super sweet and calm (and also likes to remind you that she’s ready for breakfast). We spent about 20 minutes in bed lounging on Saturday morning before getting our day started.

Sweets + Baking

Saturday stop by Sunflour for an oatmeal raisin cookie. I also got one of their morning glory muffins to stick in the freezer for breakfast one morning because they are my favorite!

I did a double batch of sourdough and baked four loaves this weekend. I sliced and froze two of them and gave two away to friends. If you missed my complete guide to baking sourdough at home, check it out here!

Crab Cake Salad

I made the most delicious dinner on Saturday night using many of the things I picked up at the market that day. I bought two crab cakes from Lucky Fish Seafood while I was at the market. I pan sauteed them and served them over a salad with greens and radishes from the market. I made a lemon vinaigrette with pickled shallots to go along with.

Final Teacher Training Weekend

We spent the majority of the last weekend practicing. The TTs broke into groups of three to teach an entire class to their fellow TTs.

Most of the classes were non-heated but we did a double on Friday night in the hot studio and I was a sweaty mess. It was insanity. I ended up taking five classes (only 45 mins each though) over the course of the three day weekend.

FYI…if you are in the Charlotte area, our Summer 200-hour TT begins in June and will take place over the course of five weekends that go from Thursday evening-Sunday evening. Get more details here.

On Sunday night we had a graduation party. Check out this spread of food! It was all from Cowfish.

I was drooling over this sushi platter.

And put quite a dent in this cake at the end of the night. ?

I’ll leave you with a fun party game that I learned last night. You place a paper bag on the ground and everyone has to take turns picking it up and putting it back down with their teeth. You can’t use your hands or come down to your knees. After each round, you take scissors and cut the bag down until it’s eventually a scrap on the floor. We got a lot of laughs incorporating yoga poses into the bag picking up and there was quite a display of flexibility shown at the end when the bag was a scrap!

Off to our studio management team meeting + subbing the 6 p.m. class for Dorie. I’ll see y’all tomorrow!

Rainy days…love them or not so much? And your dogs…do they love or hate the rain?

Favorite party game?

Did you visit the farmers market this weekend? If so, what did you get?